Monday, June 09, 2008

Bill Donohue Issues Fatwa Against Art

We'll definitely be getting into this one today on the show. Catholic League President (and Rev. John Hagee's new BFF) Bill Donohue -- who we've had on the show -- is on his latest crusade against art. This time Donohue is outraged about an end of the school year art exhibition at Cooper Union.

"The target of the protest is a series of paintings by Felipe Baeza. One of them depicts a man with his pants down and a crucifix in his rectum. A Latin caption says, "The day I became a Catholic." Another painting shows rosaries with male genitalia, and a third a man with a halo and erection."
Ok, so maybe it's not exactly the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but we'd still like to have it on display it in our atrium's. Some of Baeza's work might be a little amateurish, but isn't art that examines the intersection between sexuality and religion part of a long, established tradition and ultimately a good thing?